294 On the Origin of the Pyramids of Egypt. 



has been already shown, that of themselves they constitute but 

 remaining traces of a custom common to ail the nations of an- 

 tiquity. An ancient tumulus for men of princely rank seems 

 very generally to have consisted of three parts ; the Soros, the 

 Pn.E or Heap, and the Stele. Of these. Homer mentions two 

 at once ; as being those parts of a tumulus which were exter- 

 nally visible. As the practice occasionally varied among different 

 nations, only one of these was used to denote an ancient burying- 

 place. In Asia Minor, tlie Soros, of gigantic proportion, some- 

 times stood alone, without the File and the Ste/e. In Scythia 

 and in many northern countries the Pile only appears. In Greece 

 perhaps, although no instance is decidedly known, the simple 

 Stile, without the Pile, might serve to denote the grave of a 

 deceased person*. The Pile or Heap was generally nothing 

 more than a lofty mound of earth : more rarely it was a magni- 

 ficent pyramid. A square platform was left, in some instances, 

 upon the tops of those pyramids, as a pedestal for the Stel^ .... 

 Hence originated the appellation of Herynetk Stelae (because 

 Hermes had the care of the dead), and all the Grecian mytho- 

 logy connected with themf. In America pyramids were built 

 in this manner by the ancient inhabitants of that great continent. 

 That those pyramids were also templps is true ; because all an- 

 cient sepulchres were objects of worship, and tombs were the 



origin of temples By the account which Gmelli gives of the 



Mexican pyramids at Teociguatan {a fdnca of God\, o\ o^ Ado- 

 ration), they v/cre erected, like the Egvptian Pyramids, for se- 

 pulchres. The first he saw was the pvramiil of the Moon, about 

 150 feet in height. "It was made," he says, "of earth, in 

 steps, like the Pyramids of Egypt;" and on the top of it was a 

 great stone idol of the Moon. The pyramid of tlie Sun was 



Indeed the number of author.-; and commentators by wliom this opinion is main- 

 tained may be coii>iflered a? rnori? than a counierpoise to tlif objections of Booharfc 

 and of Jablonski. Tirin'iS {/Innot. m Sulpit.Seve^. p. 59. Ed. Hnrri. L. Bat. 1654) 

 ia addition to the authorities above cited mentions also Pierins and P.aroniiis: and 

 he further observe?, " Mque patet, turn ex nomine Serapis quod Bovem notat ; 

 tiiiti ex nomine Arsnph, quo, te4e rlutarchn, O.'sir s vncabatiir, levi con mutatione 

 ex Joseph (sr.ta: tmn ex Hieroalyphipis, quibus Osiririem des srnaliant, puta fipura 

 bovis sen vituli nolis Luna* I Soli-J iosigniti: item jiivenis imberbiscum modio et 

 calatho incapite. Qurein Jos.'^phum, ejusqne b' veset si)icas. et statem, et astro- 

 logiae peritiam, a<! amu^sim quadrant. Snbscribitur Clemens Altxandrinus, Au- 

 pustinus, A. Lapidf, et Bonfrerius." See aUo Spencer de Le^. Heb. \\b. iii. pp. 2'0, 

 271. Beyer, Hen- V. Feghnrst. de V-ro Dei Cultu, p. m. '25. edit. Kilon. 1671 . Mi- 

 chael. Not. ad Galfarell Ciuiotitatcs, edit. Hamburg:, ice. &r. 



• Kai'SrijKiiv i'^r aiiTy yttt'ie^ai, e'l'x )iiK^S. Clem. Alex. lib. v. Tl)e great coinmn 

 at Alexandria, called '' Pompey's Pillar," may possibly be an example of the Ste'le 

 standing olone. 



t A do^ h often rej resented upon th- sepulchral Stele as a type of the Egyptian 

 Mercury. This deity appears, upon Egyptian monumeuts, represented as a hu- 

 man fijurc with a rfo^'s lifad. 



about 



